made in china
New elf
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2011
- Messages
- 2
Hi all,
My first post here. I have built homemade hi power RGB floods that utilize WS2801 chips along with RS-422 driver/receiver comms chips. I have bench tested my floods using an Arduino, and all seems to work well.
The goal of my project was to build scalable, med-power to very high power RGB floods using a basic WS2801/RS-422 control PCB. The floods are 150W halogen hosts from local department stores with fitted alloy heatsink, and I have the PCB's manufactured in the States. I wanted to avoid DMX at first, as utilizing WS2801 and RS-422 seemed like a good way to bring down the overall system cost, compared to making each flood DMX based. Additionally, I am more of a hardware guy, with no experience at all with DMX. So, I built these floods with no idea of how I will ultimately control them.
In tooling around, I have come up with a "Plan A" using a DMX to pixel device like AVD's APC718, a generic USB to DMX adapter and possibly Freestyler DMX software (as it is free).
In implementation, I would have about 20-30 of these floods around the house along with some med/low power accent pixels, all data lines in series on their own RS-422 comms, connected to a RS-422 TX PCB (homemade) connected to a APC718 connected to a USB-DMX adapter.
I'd like to get some experienced opinion on this. I believe I may have built a relatively unique adaptation of the WS2801 chip, and I don't find much about these chips being used as basis for floods connected on long distances (hence the RS-422 on board).
Does my Plan A seem sorted out correctly?
Has anyone used a APC718 with Freestyler? Or is it a given it should be compatible?
How does DMX software handle a APC718?
My goal is to have built in, year 'round lighting, with each flood being "addressable" (not uniquely, but as in usual shift-register way) that can provide white ambient light off season, and be programmed to also do holiday light shows.
Here's pics of my first prototype using a 10W RGB LED:
My first post here. I have built homemade hi power RGB floods that utilize WS2801 chips along with RS-422 driver/receiver comms chips. I have bench tested my floods using an Arduino, and all seems to work well.
The goal of my project was to build scalable, med-power to very high power RGB floods using a basic WS2801/RS-422 control PCB. The floods are 150W halogen hosts from local department stores with fitted alloy heatsink, and I have the PCB's manufactured in the States. I wanted to avoid DMX at first, as utilizing WS2801 and RS-422 seemed like a good way to bring down the overall system cost, compared to making each flood DMX based. Additionally, I am more of a hardware guy, with no experience at all with DMX. So, I built these floods with no idea of how I will ultimately control them.
In tooling around, I have come up with a "Plan A" using a DMX to pixel device like AVD's APC718, a generic USB to DMX adapter and possibly Freestyler DMX software (as it is free).
In implementation, I would have about 20-30 of these floods around the house along with some med/low power accent pixels, all data lines in series on their own RS-422 comms, connected to a RS-422 TX PCB (homemade) connected to a APC718 connected to a USB-DMX adapter.
I'd like to get some experienced opinion on this. I believe I may have built a relatively unique adaptation of the WS2801 chip, and I don't find much about these chips being used as basis for floods connected on long distances (hence the RS-422 on board).
Does my Plan A seem sorted out correctly?
Has anyone used a APC718 with Freestyler? Or is it a given it should be compatible?
How does DMX software handle a APC718?
My goal is to have built in, year 'round lighting, with each flood being "addressable" (not uniquely, but as in usual shift-register way) that can provide white ambient light off season, and be programmed to also do holiday light shows.
Here's pics of my first prototype using a 10W RGB LED:
